What the checker shows
Search results cut a title or a meta description that is too wide for the space they give it, and they measure that space in pixels, not characters. The checker measures your text in the font and sizes of Google's results and shows the result as it would appear on desktop or mobile, cut where the space runs out. It also points out what tends to make Google ignore your text: an empty or very short title, a description that only repeats the title, text in capitals, a keyword repeated over and over.
Nothing is fetched: you type or paste the text, and it stays in your browser.
How to check a title and meta description
- Paste the page's title, the text inside
<title>. - Paste the meta description, the
contentof<meta name="description">. - Add the page's URL to see its breadcrumb, and the keyword the page targets, if you have one.
- Switch the preview between Desktop and Mobile; the bars under each text show how much of the width it uses.
- Fix the problems listed under the preview, then copy the texts or the ready HTML tags.
Examples
Input
title=Waterproof Hiking Boots for Men and Women – Lightweight, Breathable & Durable | TrailCo
description=Hiking boots with a waterproof membrane and a grippy sole, tested on wet rock and mud. Free returns within 60 days.
Output
Title shown: Waterproof Hiking Boots for Men and Women – Lightweight,…
The title is about 810 px wide, more than the about 600 px a desktop result shows. Google cuts it where the preview does: put the words that matter first, or shorten it. (SERP_TITLE_TOO_LONG)
Input
device=mobile
title=Sourdough Starter Guide: Feed, Store and Revive It
description=A sourdough starter needs flour, water and a routine. How often to feed it, how to keep it in the fridge, and how to revive it.
Output
Description shown: A sourdough starter needs flour, water and a routine. How often to feed it, how to keep it in the fridge, and…
The meta description is about 756 px wide, more than the about 680 px a mobile result shows. Google cuts the rest: keep the main point in the first part. (SERP_DESCRIPTION_TOO_LONG)
Input
title=
description=Plan a week of dinners from what is already in your fridge: pick the ingredients, get recipes that use them up, and a shopping list for the rest.
keyword=meal planner
Output
The title is empty. Google shows the title as the result's link; without one it writes its own from the page. (SERP_EMPTY_TITLE)
The keyword "meal planner" isn't in the meta description. Results show the words people searched for in bold; using them shows the page answers the search. (SERP_KEYWORD_MISSING)
Why pixels, not characters
Two titles of 60 characters can differ by a third in width. In Arial, the font of the results, a capital W is more than four times as wide as a lowercase i, so WWWWWWWWWW takes about 190 pixels at the size of a title and iiiiiiiiii about 45. That is why a rule of thumb such as "60 characters" fails both ways: a title of narrow letters fits with more, and one in capitals or with many wide letters is cut sooner. The checker adds up the width of each character as the font defines it, at 20 pixels for titles and 14 for descriptions, and compares the total with the space a result gives: about 600 pixels for a desktop title, about 920 for a desktop description and about 680 on mobile. Characters the measurement doesn't cover, such as Chinese, Japanese or emoji, are measured by your browser.
When Google rewrites a title
Google's documentation on title links (opens in a new tab) says it may use other text from the page when the title tag doesn't describe it well. The common causes are a missing or empty title, one that is very short, the same title on many pages, a title stuffed with repeated keywords, or one that no longer matches what the page says. A title that names the page's subject first, stays unique to the page and reads as a phrase rather than a list of keywords is kept more often. Google can also shorten a title that is too long, which is the cut the preview shows.
When Google uses your meta description
The snippet (opens in a new tab) under a result comes from the meta description only when Google finds it describes the page better than the page's own text, for the search at hand. A description that repeats the title, is a few words long or lists keywords is likely to be replaced. One that summarizes what the page offers in a sentence or two, with the words people search for, is used more often, and Google shows those words in bold.
How far to trust a preview
Every preview is an estimate. Google publishes no pixel limits; the widths here are the ones observed for its current layout and can change without notice. Your text may also be shown in a different font on a phone, and words in bold take more space. Treat a text that lands just under a limit as at risk, and keep the most important words at the start, where no cut can reach them.
Options
| Option | Values | Default | When to change it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Device | Desktop, Mobile | Desktop | The result to preview, and the width the description is measured against: about 920 px on desktop, 680 px on mobile. |
| Theme | Light, Dark | Light | The preview's colors, light or dark, whatever the page's theme. |
Common errors and fixes
| Code | What it means | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
SERP_Error | The title is empty or only spaces. | Write a title that names what the page is: Google otherwise writes its own. |
SERP_Warning | There is no meta description. | Add one or two sentences that summarize the page. |
SERP_Warning | The title is wider than about 600 px, so a desktop result cuts it. | Put the important words first, then shorten the end or drop the site name. |
SERP_Warning | The title has fewer than 30 characters. | Say what the page offers and for whom, not only its name. |
SERP_Warning | The description is wider than the device's result shows. | Keep the main point in the first sentence; what follows may be cut. |
SERP_Warning | The description has fewer than 70 characters. | Add what makes the page worth the click: what it covers, for whom. |
SERP_Note | The keyword is in neither the title nor the description, or only in one of them. | Use the exact words once where they read naturally. |
SERP_Warning | The keyword occurs three or more times in the title and description together. | Keep one mention in each and use the space for other words. |
SERP_Warning | Most long words of the text are in capitals. | Write in sentence or title case; capitals are wider and read as shouting. |
SERP_Warning | The description is the title, or starts with it. | Use the description to add what the title can't say. |
SERP_Note | The text has spaces at the start or end, double spaces, line breaks or tabs. | Tidy the text in the page's HTML; results show single spaces. |
SERP_Warning | The URL isn't an absolute http:// or https:// address. | Paste the page's full address, starting with https://. |
INPUT_Error | A field is longer than the checker takes: 1,000 characters of title, 5,000 of description. | Paste only the title or the description, not the page. |